From
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/politics/campaigns/28VOTE.html?ex=1036472
400&en=3f3bd67cca95e4a6&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
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Not until this month did Congress pass legislation to give the states $3.9
billion over three years to buy new machines and fix their systems...
... Other officials worry about security because the software is
proprietary information kept by the vendor, so election officials are at
the mercy of the vendors for their results. This situation also means a
county has to keep using that same vendor for the lifetime of the machine.
Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit
organization based in Davis that studies new technologies, is one skeptic.
"It's not enough to ask voters, `Do you like it?' " she said. "You have to
ask them, `Do you trust it?' And `Will you trust it if there's a recount?
Will you trust it if there's no paper trail?' "
... San Diego is in the market for a vendor that can supply the county
with 10,000 touch-screen machines and have them up and running by March
2004. Ms. McPherson said the county expects to pay about $30 million.
Already, 10 touch-screen manufacturers have submitted bids.
Over the next few years, this process will play out thousands of times
across the country as others upgrade their equipment to comply with the new
law. Los Angeles, which is under the same court order as San Diego to
convert by March 2004, will be letting a contract for $100 million for new
machines. New York State, which is moving toward touch screens, will have a
$60 million contract. Combined, the counties and the federal government
will pay billions of dollars to an industry that has never experienced the
kind of intense demand it is about to face.
Thomas Wilkey, executive director of the New York State Board of Elections,
said he had been discussing the coming crunch with his counterparts in
other states. "What scares all of us," he said, "is that we're all going to
be in the marketplace at the same time, and even though there are a lot of
vendors, how much can they really do?"
,,, Experts said that the primary concern with the industry was not so much
whether the companies could make and deliver all the machines, but whether
they could field enough competent technicians and project managers to make
sure they work."
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Requirements uniquely in favor of transparent, peer-audited solutions,
pending important details of lobbyists and hardware partners.
Rich